UPPR does not only work in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh but also with other UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. UPPR’s partnerships were established with the recognition that there is not one project that can meet and address all the different socio-economic needs from the targeted communities effectively. Through partnerships with other service providers, UPPR can better access their services and achieve specific policy outcomes for sustainable poverty reduction. In addition, it helps UPPR meet the diverse needs of the poor urban communities even after the phase-out of the project.

Education

With the support of partners, UPPR helps poor children to access urban services, particularly in education, as a way to break free from the cycle of poverty. We work with organizations like the Sheba Foundation, a non-profit organization, which helps communities in Chapai to run a pre-school, and Grameen Prodip, which gives support to our community organizations to run an adult literacy program since January 2012.

Tenure & Housing

UPPR believes that change can happen through coordinating the actions of national and local government with international and multilateral organisations. Evidence of this is the Community Housing Development Fund (CHDF) that was born in Gopalgonj as a result of collaborative efforts between different UN agencies and projects, the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR), the local government and the communities themselves. CHDF now helps urban poor communities in three UPPR towns (Gopalgang, Chittagong and Rajshahi) to have easier access to housing finance.

Livelihoods

Partnerships and linkages help UPPR in unlocking the potential of urban poor women through skills development. An example of this is the partnership with the Bangladesh Garment Manufactures & Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The idea behind this partnership is to train a large number of poor and underprivileged women from the UPPR communities and connect them with one of the 5,000 garment factories under the umbrella of the association. This is a strategic investment in human capital for the private sector in a country where its apparel sector needs at least 2000 skilled manpower every year. Another example is the partnership with Hathay Bunano, a fair trade organization from Dinajpur, to develop skills of 200 poor and extremely poor women. The partnership enables beneficiaries to earn a basic income, allowing them to finance schooling for their children and supplement other household expenses, while empowering them to participate actively in their communities.

Health & Nutrition

UPPR works in collaboration with the Government and organisations like Marie Stopes to maximize UPPR’s beneficiaries’ access to health services. An example of this is the partnership between the communities in Tongi, Barisal and Rangpur with BRAC to implement an Adolescents Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH) initiative.

Infrastructure

UPPR aims at reinforcing success it has made in the provision of water and sanitation services through partnership efforts with other organizations that complement our work. Examples of this is the linkage made with UNICEF for the provision of hygiene behavior training or the partnership with Sobar Jonno Pani (SJP - Water for All) for connecting individual households to the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) network.

Project Overview

Status
Closed

Project start date
01 November 2007

Estimated end date
31 August 2015

Geographic coverage
23 towns across Bangladesh

Focus Area
Poverty Reduction

MDG
Goal 7, Target 11: a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020